Woman blames sexual blackmail for suicide

Neighbour arrested as woman’s husband finds a video in which she is narrating her woes.

Almost a month after a 26-year-old woman committed suicide by hanging herself in her house in Navi Mumbai's Taloja area, the husband of the victim has found a video in which she says she was being sexually assaulted and blackmailed by a man. The woman says in the video that she was ending her life as she was fed up of the constant sexual assaults and harassment she had to endure.

After the video emerged, the Taloja police have registered a case of abetment of suicide in the matter and are looking for the alleged sexual offender.

According to sources, the victim, Hansa Bhabhaniya, had hanged herself on September 11, and the Taloja police had filed an accidental death report as they did not suspect any foul play.

The woman’s body was handed over to her husband after completion of a post-mortem examination.

The husband then went to his hometown in Gujarat for performing the last rites and returned after 15 days.

As he returned to the city, he found a mobile phone in the cupboard of their room. To his shock, he came across a video recorded by his wife before she hanged herself.

The police said that in the video the woman, speaking in Gujarati, accuses her neighbour Amar of forcibly assaulting and blackmailing her by threatening to make public her pictures and videos. She also alleged that Amar would often ask his friends to join him in sexually assaulting her. He would also ask her to give him money, the woman is heard saying in the video.

“Immediately after seeing the video, I approached the police. I had some inkling but was not aware of the entire situation. The man used to make gestures to my wife from his window, but I did not realise things had reached that far,’’ said the woman’s husband in the FIR.

“We have registered a case of abetment of suicide and arrested the accused,” said a police officer privy to the investigation.